Work to restore heaths after blaze

The Welsh Government-funded project is being led by Natural Resources Wales in partnership with Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Denbighshire County Council. The ambition will be to re-invigorate the natural habitat and restore Llantysilio Mountain, Llangollen, to its former glory.

The site, which provides grazing areas for local farmers and is popular with walkers, burned for four weeks at the height of a heatwave in 2018.

During that time National Resources Wales worked with North Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Denbighshire Countryside Services to cut back vegetation and create fire breaks to try to stop the fire spreading.

The wildfire destroyed up to 250 hectares of land at the Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation.

Nick Thomas, principal strategic adviser at Natural Resources Wales, said: “Mynydd Llantysilio is really important to both people and wildlife.

"Following the wildfire, we have worked closely with Denbighshire Countryside Service, the landowners and graziers to restore the vegetation at the site for wildlife and grazing.

“Since 2018 we have seen most of the site recover naturally, with some heathland plants growing back from roots and seeds.

“However, there has been a clear need for us to intervene in order to stabilise the soil and create better conditions for moorland plants like heather and bilberry to thrive.”

The project will include harvesting locally-sourced heather which will be cut and bagged as part of annual moorland management, then airlifted by helicopter to the fire-damaged slopes.

Councillor Tony Thomas, Denbighshire County Council’s lead member for housing and communities, said: “This is an important restoration project which is being carried out in partnership with Natural Resources Wales and Welsh Government.”